diff --git a/source/registry/reg_cachehook.c b/source/registry/reg_cachehook.c
index bfdc0de5f57..c7f099e134c 100644
--- a/source/registry/reg_cachehook.c
+++ b/source/registry/reg_cachehook.c
@@ -54,18 +54,19 @@ static char *keyname_to_path(TALLOC_CTX *mem_ctx, const char *keyname)
  Initialize the cache tree if it has not been initialized yet.
  *********************************************************************/
 
-bool reghook_cache_init( void )
+WERROR reghook_cache_init(void)
 {
 	if (cache_tree == NULL) {
 		cache_tree = pathtree_init(&regdb_ops, NULL);
-		if (cache_tree != NULL) {
-			DEBUG(10, ("reghook_cache_init: new tree with default "
-				   "ops %p for key [%s]\n", (void *)&regdb_ops,
-				   KEY_TREE_ROOT));
+		if (cache_tree == NULL) {
+			return WERR_NOMEM;
 		}
+		DEBUG(10, ("reghook_cache_init: new tree with default "
+			   "ops %p for key [%s]\n", (void *)&regdb_ops,
+			   KEY_TREE_ROOT));
 	}
 
-	return (cache_tree != NULL);
+	return WERR_OK;
 }
 
 /**********************************************************************
diff --git a/source/registry/reg_init_basic.c b/source/registry/reg_init_basic.c
index e72765bdf2f..72ab9d1e655 100644
--- a/source/registry/reg_init_basic.c
+++ b/source/registry/reg_init_basic.c
@@ -36,7 +36,12 @@ bool registry_init_basic(void)
 	}
 	regdb_close();
 
-	reghook_cache_init();
+	werr = reghook_cache_init();
+	if (!W_ERROR_IS_OK(werr)) {
+		DEBUG(1, ("Failed to initialize the reghook cache: %s\n",
+			  dos_errstr(werr)));
+		return false;
+	}
 
 	return true;
 }
diff --git a/source/registry/reg_init_full.c b/source/registry/reg_init_full.c
index ac3f66f1b26..8c834c4abb5 100644
--- a/source/registry/reg_init_full.c
+++ b/source/registry/reg_init_full.c
@@ -85,7 +85,12 @@ bool init_registry( void )
 
 	/* build the cache tree of registry hooks */
 
-	reghook_cache_init();
+	werr = reghook_cache_init();
+	if (!W_ERROR_IS_OK(werr)) {
+		DEBUG(0, ("Failed to initialize the reghook cache: %s\n",
+			  dos_errstr(werr)));
+		goto fail;
+	}
 
 	for ( i=0; reg_hooks[i].keyname; i++ ) {
 		if (!reghook_cache_add(reg_hooks[i].keyname, reg_hooks[i].ops))
diff --git a/source/registry/reg_init_smbconf.c b/source/registry/reg_init_smbconf.c
index 871141c1fda..bfc85afb22e 100644
--- a/source/registry/reg_init_smbconf.c
+++ b/source/registry/reg_init_smbconf.c
@@ -94,7 +94,13 @@ bool registry_init_smbconf(const char *keyname)
 		goto done;
 	}
 
-	reghook_cache_init();
+	werr = reghook_cache_init();
+	if (!W_ERROR_IS_OK(werr)) {
+		DEBUG(1, ("Failed to initialize the reghook cache: %s\n",
+			  dos_errstr(werr)));
+		goto done;
+	}
+
 	if (!reghook_cache_add(keyname, &smbconf_reg_ops)) {
 		DEBUG(1, ("Failed to add smbconf reghooks to reghook cache\n"));
 		goto done;